4 money-saving tips for food and groceries in Singapore

While local start-up UglyFood first made local headlines for shuttering their doors in early 2023, they’re now back with new and better UglyFood 2.0. As the name goes, they’re all about ugly food – an initiative to make the most of bruised fruits and veggies, near-expired canned foods, and fresh produce that just don’t look quite as…fresh. On top of helping shoulder the world’s food waste situation, you’ll also be scoring pantry bargains. Three ripe avocados start from $6.60, blueberries from $2.50, and Fuji apples from $0.55 – proving that food doesn’t need to look pretty to still taste oh-so-good.

Some people mistakenly think that convenience means exorbitantly priced but that’s so not the case. Take foodpanda – you can now get $6 off popular food joints such as Popeyes, Pastamania, and Kimly Dim Sum. No matter if it’s fried chicken or char barbecued pork buns you’re hankering after, there’s a long list of participating restaurants to fit your cravings. Simply spend $28 or more, check out with promo code “LIKEAPANDA”, and voila – you’ll instantly get $6 off your order.

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Imagine ordering household appliances or baked goods via Whatsapp or Telegram with others in your neighbourhood. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s called “group buying” where neighbours come together to bulk buy whatever they need. These groups can be found by searching your estate’s name on Telegram or by asking around in your neighbourhood’s Facebook groups. It helps to keep costs down as you’re buying directly from suppliers in  bulk, plus delivery costs are shared or even free. Pretty good idea, we think. This trend gained traction during pandemic times and it’s a great way to support small local businesses too.

Besides a number of gourmet grocers in Singapore, we also have plenty of other small businesses that’ve popped up since pandemic days. Take specialty Japanese store Araya Shouten: this tiny spot in Tanglin Mall occasionally has flash sales on sashimi, and once even sold sea urchin (uni, 250g) starting from just $72 – that’s a real steal. Other small-scale grocers to check out include Suguru Dining and cockle specialist Eat Hum. Our hot tip? Follow these local businesses online since they often blast last-minute sales through social media.